[grey_whiskers]

What is the altitude of the satellite, and what is its flight path relative to the ground?

Is it at, say, 250 miles high and traveling over the West Coast or the East Coast of the US?

[SaveFerris]

I thought Erik said the altitude was 340 miles - I assume it’s an equatorial inclination but I’m not certain

I’ll have to watch the video again or at least let it roll to be sure

The satellite looks pretty crude by our standards, of course

ES seems to think the most significant part of the story is the fact that the solid booster rocket could be later used for an ICBM warhead ....... I’d have to find out more about the rocket

[SaveFerris]

Yeah, 340 mile orbit he said (watched small part again)

Looks like it’s 6-sided (equilateral hexagon-sided from the top) with with multiple staring sensors (I think) maybe looking for launches - it’s it’s lucky enough to be over the assumed launch point(s).

I can’t quite tell but it looks like it may have an additional camera on top to verify orientation(?)

It’s pretty crude looking - I don’t know if they’re using gyros to stabilize its orbit - this is some pretty tricky stuff to get right

[cpdiii]

What is the altitude of the satellite, and what is its flight path relative to the ground? Is it at, say, 250 miles high and traveling over the West Coast or the East Coast of the US?

Unless launched into an equatorial orbit east west or west east. if the inclination is sufficient it will eventually pass over all points on earth. Most satellites are launched from west to east as the rotation of the earth helps it achieve orbital speed and thus greater payload and or altitude.